Do bears fear fire?

Joined
Apr 5, 2015
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Serious question. Do bears -brown, black and polar - fear fire?

I was having a debate with a buddy, neither of us have much bear experience at all, and we where deadlocked over whether bears would be afraid of a fire -like would a campfire keep a bear out of your camp?

I realize results will vary probably based on how peopled the bears are but I am looking for general thoughts, especially if those thoughts support my position that a small campfire isn’t going to keep grizzlys out of you camp in Alaska, thus proving my buddy is a dumbass.
 
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
906
Serious question. Do bears -brown, black and polar - fear fire?

I was having a debate with a buddy, neither of us have much bear experience at all, and we where deadlocked over whether bears would be afraid of a fire -like would a campfire keep a bear out of your camp?

I realize results will vary probably based on how peopled the bears are but I am looking for general thoughts, especially if those thoughts support my position that a small campfire isn’t going to keep grizzlys out of you camp in Alaska, thus proving my buddy is a dumbass.

I can't weigh in on the browns, but have everyday experience with blacks. Anytime I've been in brown bear country I haven't had a fire. I can tell you that, in my experience, black bears tend to stay away if it's a small campfire UNLESS you're using it for cooking. Once shorelunch, bacon, etc... starting permeating the air, despite the wood smoke they may come looking. If it's just a campfire though it seems like they're less likely to come close by.

Just been my experience.
 

Owenst7

WKR
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I grew up in hunting in Alaska.

Bears don't give a shit. If that bear is afraid of people, the fire is just more attention to the "people". Brown bears typically aren't afraid of people like black bears are. Black bears are usually only that way until they have a number of interactions with people that don't result in getting shot at.

Ammonia works well to make things smell a lot less interesting to curious bears.
 

Beendare

WKR
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My extensive resume of seeing every Indiana Jones movie at least twice...and part time watcher of the Walking Dead series.....

I would say YES! grin

In other words...no clue, but I'm in for anecdotal comments
 
Joined
May 6, 2012
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I am not an expert but I can say that we had a black bear come into camp (20 yards) while a fire was going. He circled us and then left. I can say with certainty he paid the fire no mind.


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Joined
Apr 22, 2012
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Chugiak, Alaska
As far as brown bears go, it's been by experience that they do not fear campfires what so ever. I have on several occasions, had brown bears walk through camp when a campfire was burning and they did not care. On one occasion, a buddy and I had two brown bears in camp one night, harassing us to no end. We had gathered enough wood for several days of burning campfires and ended up burning it all that night and at one point it was a pretty big bonfire. These two bears would continuously put pressure on us, coming into camp, occasionally from opposite sides at the same time, and occasionally the wind would pick up and would blow smoke and embers right into their faces, but it made no difference, they would walk right into them. Needless to say, (and I am happy to say), those bears are no longer with us.:)
 

3forks

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For what it's worth, I recently saw a vid on YouTube of a black bear stealing steaks off a BBQ grill.
 

napeequa55

Lil-Rokslider
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Feb 28, 2016
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Like everything else, probably depends on the bear and how the bear has been conditioned.

Plenty of bears walk into campsites to steal food in national parks despite the campgrounds being full of fires...

Just depended on their individual experiences and how they associate fire with good/bad.


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